For 10 years or so I've been trying to figure out how to get more people interested in cats. We've been sending teams out to race at established Yacht Clubs with the sole intent of generating interest within the general sailing community. It seems to be working, albeit slowly. This year I hope to hit it hard by supporting events like the Delta Ditch, the SF NOOD Regatta (F18), and several RYC events just to name a few. And for the past few years I've been running all races through my home club, SCYC. Give me some input, do you think that this is a good direction?

I am writing this now because of the following email from a Yacht Club guy, edited for anonymity and content, kind of hit a chord. I seem to be getting a lot of these types of emails lately. There is a new class of multi that seems to be growing rapidly in this area and I'm not sure why. Is it that they are embracing a certain Yacht Club and due to their visibility they're able to sell the boats? It's perplexing.

Quote:

Seriously, you guys need to come do some **YC events. Having the 5 Nacras at the last event generated quite a buzz in the club. Stirring up some of the Old Guard ("******* Cats!") and intriguing the open minded ("Those things *go fast*!"). With the AC sporting a couple big ******* multis, I think cats and tris are starting to seriously register on people's radar. Might be able to ride that momentum and get people out in more multis instead of Bytes and Laser.

I think you know my take on sailing catamarans out of Yacht Clubs. I have been pushing it and supporting it for years. Main reason is this question: "Where are we going to find new catamaran sailors?"

Back in the heyday of Hobie Cat sailing most of the participants came from the folks looking for extreme sports. There were not too many to choose from. Catamarans floated to the top of the heap and we were able to get as many as 450 boats to a regatta. That was before windsurfing, kitesurfing, X Games skateboarding and snowboarding, just to name a few of the newer extreme sports. The jetski took many others as it was easier to launch and learn.

If we can tap into like minded people, sailors, and encourage them to experience the awesome speed of catamarans we will get many more interested in our class. It will be at the sacrifice of other fleets, which is unfortunate, but in the long run we will keep more sailors on the water due to the fun factor.

You are absolutely right to support those catamaran sailors that participate in Yacht Club events. They are the ones that bring the oh's and ah's to the sailing course which may get some of the big boats "rail meat" to consider helming a boat that is faster than the big expensive one they are on.

You've heard the story, Jeremy, while on a racing mono at the Delta Ditch Run the beach cats started 30 minutes after us and the last one passed us an hour into the race. For a monohull we made pretty good time, but (if I'm reading the results properly) the last F18 lost to the first monohull by two minutes, the fastest F18 beat the fastest monohull by an hour and a half over a distance of 67 nm. Getting a showing like you (or someone) did for that race should make a difference.

Would a sane person do the ditch on a Tiger if they knew they were a lousy sailer?

And that's the definition of a Catch-22. Recognizing you're crazy means you're sane and you can't be both at the same time. As for crappy sailors, at least you didn't get two DSQs in three races for bonehead stunts like I pulled at the Round Treasure Island regatta.

Can you scare up a handful of hobie 16s to provide/lend for a club championship? MBYC rotates boats for each year's championship race, but the cat fleet has yet to provide enough cats to run the race. The N-20 and F-18 guys are not too keen to lend their boats. Too fragile and too much money in spinnaker damage to justify, but if we could get a hand full of 16s...